Wandering round I found jeans and my UK down jacket fine
Jeans are ok down to surprisingly low temps as long as they aren't wet and if it's not windy. The only time I got freeze-burned was in my crotch area when walking into moderate wind at about -10 for an hour or so in normal trousers.
This appears to be the only thread where the Montane Extreme and Buffalo pile jackets are actually a justified answer! I’d love to test my new one in really cold conditions, it’s bonkers warm.
If you're doing exercise, no matter how cold it is, you'd be too warm.
You only need thick jackets for when you're not moving.
I personally would not go for a fleecy warm base layer. Whilst the outside is cold, the interior of buildings is usually the same
Just to highlight this comment. It's easy to go over bord and if you're spending time inside as well it can get very hot quickly. Tbh if it's around -15degC it's not too hard to cope with, it is when you get -25 or -30 or so you get cold very quickly. I e of the biggest thing to sort is your feet with something loose, water proof and insulated.
Never ceases to amaze me, watching people wandering around wearing quilted/down jackets with hoods u
Even better is you see people wearing these expensive Canadian goose jackets and similar in the pissing rain.
I spent a week in Lapland with my family. I didn't buy anything new as I had all the right clothing already (as a result of being pretty outdoorsy). I wore lots of layers and tweaked depending on conditions - buffalo shirt, primaloft and down jackets, baselayers, midlayers etc
It was all organised by me so there was no tour company. We did all sorts, including snowmobiles, huskies, horse sleigh, skiing. I hired a fatbike for an afternoon too
BUT, I bought all sorts of bits for the family to keep them warm. New baselayers, couple of midlayers, but then skiing clothing like all in one suits for the kids and salopettes for the wife. I used some B1 boots on my feet but I bought Sorel boots for the family (2nd hand) which made a big difference. The other thing that helped was an electronic handwarmer, you can turn if on and off as necessary.
I spent a few nights looking for the northern lights and it was great for keeping hands (and camera battery) warm
I kept one huge belay style jacket as a spare to chuck over anyone if it got really bad, it was mostly fine. Coldest day was -26C
I popped outside in shorts and t shirt to put the rubbish out at one point, it was pretty brisk. But it's not as cold as you'd think, there was no moisture in the air and mostly very little wind
Even better is you see people wearing these expensive Canadian goose jackets and similar in the pissing rain.
They are almost a compulsory uniform for a certain demographic!
I assume 99% are knock-offs and not the real, massively over priced, deal.
As above, you wont need tour own kit if you're going out with an organised tour. You also don't want your own kit as an outer layer with sled dogs as they will crap in full flight and flick it over you as they run. 😉
See these guys for a fat bike outing: https://rolloutdoors.com/
The trail centre is great fun in deep snow! 😀
